Almost A Bride (Montana Born Brides) by Sarah Mayberry Page A

his touch had burned through her body, sending heat up into her face and down to places she hadn’t wanted to think about, pushing her heart rate sky high, making her jumpy and self-conscious and hyper-aware of him.
    She ’d been living with Simon for a year by then, and it hadn’t taken her long to rationalize the moment into a nice, safe little box. Reid was a good-looking guy, after all. Any woman would get a little hot under the collar if he grabbed her around the waist and saved her from an embarrassing face plant. He also had a dry, sometimes goofy sense of humor, was extremely well-read and well-traveled, and wasn’t afraid to let the world know when he cared about something. All in all, a pretty appealing package, and she was only human. It didn’t mean anything.
    Amazing how long she ’d been able to cling to that piece of self-delusion.
    She heard Reid ’s heavy tread mounting the steps to her front door and pulled it open before he could knock. His hair was wet from the shower, making it appear almost black, and a long-sleeved black T-shirt and jeans made the most of his lean, strong body.
    Pretty appealing package, my ass.
    The man was gorgeous, that was the truth of it, but it was the kindness and intelligence behind his eyes that she ’d always found the most appealing. God help her.
    “ You ready?” he asked.
    “ Two seconds,” she said.
    She turned on her heel and went to collect her wallet, house keys and phone. He was standing on the porch when she turned around. Watching her.
    She’d gotten pretty good at reading his expressions over the past year. His eyebrows tended to lower a little when he was serious, and his eyes shone with laughter when he was amused. She couldn’t read his expression now, though.
    “ You ready to tell me where we’re going yet?” she asked as she shouldered her backpack.
    “ Thought you might enjoy guessing.”
    She shooed him down the porch steps so she could lock the front door. “You thought wrong. I hate surprises.”
    She frowned when she spotted his car. Two big white surfboards were sticking out of the back tray.
    She shot him a look. “You’re aware that Montana is a land-locked state, right?”
    “ Shows what you know.”
    She climbed into the truck.
    “I think my geography is pretty solid on this one,” she said.
    “ True. But those aren’t surfboards.”
    She twisted to look through the rear window at the boards. Sure enough, now that she saw them up close, they seemed wider than a normal surfboard, and the middle section was covered with what looked like a layer of rubbery matting.
    “You’ve got me,” she admitted. “I am officially bamboozled.”
    “ You ever heard of stand-up paddle-boarding?”
    “ No.”
    “ Then today is going to be a voyage of discovery.” He shot her a grin before reversing out into the street.
    “ And where is this voyage going to take me?”
    “ Fairy Lake. Any more questions, Your Honor?”
    “ I’m good for now. But thanks for asking.”
    His smile was small but it warmed something inside her to know that they understood —and enjoyed—each other so thoroughly.
    He headed north, stopping at a truck stop outside of Livingstone for gas. He returned to the car with a couple of coffees and two grease-marked bags. He tossed one into her lap and Tara was about to explain that she wasn ’t up to eating when the smell of bacon hit her.
    Okay, maybe she could make an exception for bacon.
    “Oh, this is good,” she said as she swallowed her first mouthful of toasted cheese and bacon sandwich.
    “ Bacon is nature’s cure-all,” Reid said.
    He pulled back onto the freeway, and she took a moment to unwrap his sandwich for him so he wouldn ’t have to do it one-handed.
    “ Thanks.”
    “ Least I can do, since you went to all the trouble of getting me out of bed early,” she said.
    “ Just being a good friend.”
    He was joking, she knew, but it seemed to her that his words were a timely reminder. They’d